Still Training.......

What happened to “The Run 4 The Red”? The answer for the past 18 months has been the same, still training... But we did need to take a break from the schedule, an interlude for us to take care of some emergent family needs, including but not limited to an epic move of 1200 miles with a semi trailer full of possessions plus 5 other vehicles with dogs and other livestock. So now we are here in SW Colorado, near where I started running dogs 25 years ago. Our break from the schedule is over, training is in full swing, and the dogs are stronger than ever.

The team taking a water break on a recent training run

I was never really sure of attaching a firm date to our dream of running the race, I knew that 2014 was optimistic, but completely out of the question now since we were not able to get our qualifiers in last season. This season seems to be a stretch as well, especially now that they cancelled The John Beargrease Marathon, one of only 3 qualifier races in the lower 48. So our focus this year will be to run some 100 and 200 mile races to get the young dogs some race experience, and possibly get one of our qualifiers out of the way.  

A beautiful & sunny but cold morning in SW Colorado

Some of our tried and true older dogs that ran the longer races in 2011 will be retiring over the next couple years, allowing the youngsters to develop and get some race time. I do not ever want to forget what these dogs did for our team!! Boss, Kinky, Eve, Marsh, and Kaos-the core of our A team, and ALL of our current A team dogs are direct descendants from these dogs. Even though they will be retiring over the next 2-3 years and not be directly involved in the race, I will be leaving them on our sponsor list because without them not only would we not have finished any races, we would not have a race team now! These dogs are the reason that we are still running, and it should be considered the highest honor to be one of their sponsors.

Morgan and Ashley returning from a long run-tired team!

Morgan is our amazing head guide and lead musher, but we also have a new young apprentice that we are very excited about.  Ashley Thaemert has been involved in mushing and the malamute breed for over half of her life. She started at 10 years of age with an interest in sled dogs and a home made wooden sled that she crafted with her grandfather. By the time she was 13, she had 4 malamutes and was running them in team. She has since added three more malamutes on her own team, and is currently training with us to learn how to run larger teams. We are thrilled to have her join us-her passion for this breed is obvious to everyone who meets her.

Ashley holding one of her young charges

We are shooting for a 2016 entry, but this time I am not being talked into setting a firm date. We will run it when the dogs are ready, with the expectation that it wont be the only time we run it!